I decided to peal off the black boarder for two reasons, one so you could get a better view of the vinyls, and two to perform what I like to call a peal test. These vinyls have so much detail, with lots of little crevices. I was a bit concerned that they might not peal well, for that very reason. I started out very slowly, expecting a piece to get stuck between buildings or to rip off the top of the tower. I was pleasantly surprised that the backing pealed so smoothly and so easily, without a single problem.
I decided to test these out using the Toronto skyline for this tutorial and review, because it is a place I've always wanted to visit. It's sad, I've lived the majority of my life in NY and I've never been to Canada. There are two ways that you can use these vinyls, one way is to use them like a decal, and the second is to use them like a stencil. I decided to use them as a stencil.
I started off with two coats of Chaotic Glitz 'Little Black Book.' This was another prize from one of the recent giveaways that I won. This is a really pretty black that has a holo shimmer to it, if you check my Instagram feed you'll see some macro shots of it that help show off that shimmer. Also because I am using vinlys I applied a quick drying topcoat.
Once, my nails were dry I began applying the vinyls. Now these vinyls are a little bit trickier to apply than some others because the skyline is one continues scene. Therefore, you have to divide it amongst your fingers. I did so by starting on my pinky, I placed it and then trimmed it with a small pair of scissors, and repeated this process across my nails. However, I had a slight problem when I got to the CN Tower and had to shift the vinyl slightly to make it fit on my nail. If I had thought it out properly, I would have started with the placement of the most important building and adjust the others accordingly. I made it work well enough though.
If you are using the vinyls as a stencil, remember to leave enough of the vinyl hanging off the end or side of the nail so that you can peal it off without disturbing your polish. I also prepped my fingers with a liquid latex before I got to the messy goodness of the sponged gradient.
I did a sponged gradient of China Glaze 'One Track Mind,' 'All Aboard,' and 'Metro Pollen-tin.' This may seem like a weird combination but my goal was to create a night time city light scene. For the very first layer of sponging I applied a white over the three colors because I was sponging over black. After, the first layer I proceeded with just the three colors and no white. It took me about four layers of gradient to achieve the desired opacity.
I then pealed off all the vinyls and liquid latex barrier. As you can see I had a couple oopsies along the edge of some of my nails. There is also a little bleed over at the base of the CN Tower that happened when I removed the vinyl (hard to see because of the glare).
I performed a great deal of clean up some with acetone and a q-tip, and a bit with acetone and a brush. I also used a small detail brush and fixed the messed up areas. I also applied a final layer of quick drying topcoat. I decided to use another of my new goodies Superchick Lacquer 'Marvel' quick drying topcoat. It dried unbelievably fast, and as you can see is super shiney. (I also used Superchick's 'Bring it On,' basecoat for this manicure too.)
The city glow turned out just the way I had hoped it would. I was going to add some stars to the darker areas, but decided against it because I didn't want to take away from the gradient.
Even though these vinyls require a little more effort during placement, I love the continuous scene. The quality of the vinyls are excellent, the cuts were absolutely perfect. I think it is wonderful that Shawna decided to create skylines of actual cities instead of just a generic city skylines, and she has many cities to choose from. I'm super excited that she sent me a Seattle skyline, because it's one of my favorite cities, and I'm taking a trip there in October. I'm sure you can guess what I'll be wearing on my nails. This is my first experience with My Nails Did, and I was very pleased, she has many unique vinyls and you can bet that I'll be purchasing from her in the near future.
Also, if you don't see a city that your interested in send her an email, and she'll work with you to see if she can make it happen. I hope you enjoyed this nail art design, and found the product review useful. Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.
Your Fellow Plebe,
